Joe Russo Explains ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ Title Changes

It wasn’t exactly surprising when Disney and Marvel officially confirmed that Avengers: Infinity War – Part 1 had dropped the ‘Part 1’ from its title — back in May, director Joe Russo said that both parts would soon be renamed. Not long after, we learned that the first film is now simply titled Avengers: Infinity War, while the sequel’s new title has yet to be revealed. According to the Russo brothers, it may still be quite a while before we learn what’s up with that fourth Avengers movie.

While speaking with CinemaBlend, Joe Russo offered this explanation for the Infinity War title change:

We wanted the movie to be very different and distinctive, you know. There’s certainly cross-pollination between characters and some story-arcs, but you know, the first movie is very clearly Avengers: Infinity War and, in time, we will reveal what the second film is.

When pressed about when they might reveal the new Avengers 4 title, Russo said, “You’ll learn that, but not for quite some time.”

Audiences have grown weary of two-part franchise finales, as evidenced by diminishing box office returns for movies like The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, Allegiant and even The Hobbit. It makes sense that Marvel would want to avoid making fans think that they’re watching the first part of a story that won’t conclude for another year.

As to what the fourth Avengers film could be…your guess is as good as mine, but they probably won’t clue us in until we get closer to Infinity War, which hits theaters on May 4, 2018.